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Rob Crisell is an author, actor, teacher, and Shakespearean in Temecula, CA. He teaches poetry and Shakespeare with the Murrieta Valley Union School District as part of its Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) program. He is a Shakespeare lecturer with Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. He has acted in The Merchant of Venice, Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged), Baskerville, Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, The Tempest (Prospero), Macbeth, Othello (Iago), and others. Over the quarantine, he has acted in Much Ado About Nothing and Merry Wives of Windsor (with Nathan Agin’s “A Working Actor’s Journey production) and King Lear (Quarantine Players). He has written and performed several one-man plays featuring Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Shakespeare in America. He’s the author of Shakespeare’s Book of Wisdom: Advice on Living a Wiser, Happier Life from William Shakespeare & Friends (DePortola Press 2018). His 2016 TED Talk is “How NOT to Hate Shakespeare.” His verse adaptation of Sophocles’ Electra will be produced by Full Circle Players in Riverside, California in October 2020. He is a graduate of Yale University and George Mason University Law School. For details, visit www.robcrisell.com or www.facebook/robcrisellactor/.

The Three Witches

The Three Witches’ Spell – 2016 Presidential Election Edition

Hillary as Lady Macbeth --Edward ClineI was trying to figure out how to incorporate the “Three Witches’ Spell” from Macbeth into a school presentation and my mind began to wander (as it will) to the national train wreck that is the 2016 Presidential Election. Within an hour, I came up with the following poem. I apologize ahead of time for not incorporating Bernie. I don’t think it will be the last time he’s ignored. Since this year marks the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, consider this the first of few times I’ll have him weigh in on the election. Enjoy!

–Rob

The Three Witches’ Spell – 2016 Presidential Election Edition

Round about the cauldron go;
In our parties’ leaders throw.
Politicos with lies perfected,
Whose minds oft change when they’re elected,
Who by fat cats are sold and bought,
Boil them first in the charmèd pot.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Senator of New York state,
In the cauldron boil and bake.
Neon pantsuit, vodka on rocks,
Forkèd tongue and excess Botox,
Crooked hen with no right wing,
Horny hubby embarrassing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Con artist extraordinaire,
With silky, red, disturbing hair,
Pompous star of The Apprentice,
Friend of Putin, Ted Cruz menace;
A lovely Latin border wall,
So yooge it dwarfs the Taj Mahal.
Add thereto a mind like Stalin
For the ingredients of our cauldron.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Cool it with a taxpayer’s blood.
Then the charm is firm and good.

–Robert A. Crisell